Sunday Night Thoughts: June 22, 2018

Well, guys, it’s another Sunday night here in the ATL, and it was thundering on my side like crazy just a couple of hours ago. The strange thing about it was it was a beautiful evening less than an hour before. Georgia’s weather for ya.

Tonight I’m not going stay on for too long. I’m working on a something big right now, and it’s just taking my focus away from this blog tonight. But I do want to talk about something that I will probably address in my next article with bphope.com. Earlier today, I saw the promotion for a book on Twitter, and it kind of pissed me off. It wasn’t the author or the book itself, but the title. It used the word “bipolar”, and I’m pretty sure the characters didn’t have bipolar.

Ever since I started fully understanding my disorder, I became more aware of how the word is just thrown around just for the hell of it. Before then, it didn’t bother me. But now, as a diagnosed bipolar person, it insults me when people do that. No, the weather isn’t bipolar. No, you’re not bipolar because you can’t decide with skimpy-ass dress you want to wear today. No, you’re not bipolar because you have issues with a man/woman who you knew would give you hell in the first place.

Bipolar disorder is a complex disorder that can only be diagnosed by a professional, and even then a lot of them get it wrong. While I recognize bipolar tendencies in people–actual tendencies, not your indecisiveness on what color shoes you should wear–I’m not a professional, so I recommend that people who are having issues that they can’t explain to go see a doctor.

Fighting the bipolar stigma is hard enough. But when people just openly use the word as though it’s nothing doesn’t help the cause. It further makes our struggle seems even less significant.

That’s why I hate when people tell people with mental health issues to just snap out of it or that there’s nothing wrong with them, as though their disorders are nothing but something trivial.

It’s that kind of behavior that makes it hard for us to get help. It makes us ashamed. It literally kills us.

While it’s not easy to erase the overuse of the word “bipolar” because it’s imprinted in our minds, people need to make a more conscious effort to work on it and realize the harm that it actually does. After all, our lives depend on it.

Well, that’s all I’m going to say. I’m going to save the rest for my next article on bphope.com. Meanwhile, I’m going back to work before I go to sleep. Like always, if I’m not back here later this week, I’ll be here next Sunday.

Published by JB Burrage

I'm a Meridian, Mississippi native, and proud Army veteran. I currently live somewhere in the great metropolis of Atlanta, because I wanted to be close to home while still being close to pretty city buildings and lights. Oh...also so I could finally set up shop somewhere, and Atlanta was the perfect place to set up while still living in the South. As a creative writer, I'm using this blog/website as an outreach for the promotion of my various work, such as books and plays, as well as address mental health issues. I'm also running a company called The Mad Writer Project, LLC, which publishes and develop my various work.
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